Rescue apparatus.



J. KONRATH.

' RESCUE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY2.1912.

Patented May 29, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- v m 6 W L mv.., H: 2 w 4 a \0, v i m 9/ yiimeooeo 1 TE STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KONRATH, or nEwYonK, n. Y.

RESCUE APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN KoNRATH, a citcuers on the outside in rescuing those indanger on the upper floors of buildings, escape from which by the stairways has been cut off.

It is a matter of common knowledge that human life is frequently sacrificed in the upper floors of tall buildings when fire has out of]? access to these floors by the stairways or elevators, since the scaling apparatus in common use does not enable firemen or other rescuers to mount above a few stories.

.An object of my invention is to produce scaling and rescue apparatus which Wlll enable rescuers to mount easily, rapidly and safely to any height along the outside of a building, from floor to floor. Other objects of my invention are simplicity of construction and facility and reliability in operation. Still other objects and'adv'antages of my invention will appear from the following description.

My invention comprises various features of construction and combinations of parts,

as willhereinafter more fully appear.

I. shallnow describe the embodiment of my invention which is illustrated in the ac. companying drawings and shall thereafter point out my invention in claims.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a building showing an apparatus embodying my invention in operation. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection, on an enlarged scale, through a portion 'of the side of. a building, including one window and a portion ofthe window above, showing my improved apparatus in an operative position.

Fig. 3 is an elevation, on i an enlarged scale, partly in longitudinal vertical section, of my'extensible supporting member.

Fig. 4 is a detail inperspective of the upper or hook-shaped end of my scaling ladden. 7 v

Fig. 5 is a detail in front elevation of the lower end of my scaling ladder and of the Specification of Letters mat.

Patented May 29, 191 '7.

Application filed May 2,1912. Serial N 0. 694,617.

pulley mechanism in the ladder.

' Fig. 6' is a detail'in perspective of my pulley mechanism.

In the illustrated embodiment of my in vention, the apparatus requires two operators and consists of a scaling ladder, two portable-supporting devices, two portable securing means for tying the ladder to the supporting devices, a pulley mechanism and a suitable carriage for'conveying the rescued person to the ground. The scaling ladder 1 is a little longer than one story, and has an position as carried on offset portion at its upper end adapted to rest upon a window ledge, and, as shown, its side pieces are shaped to hook at their upper ends upon a window ledge. The ladder is provided at its lower end with means to support and carry the pulley mechanism and.

the carriage. The ladder is wider at its lower end than at its upper end, or, in other words, the side pieces of the ladder, which are straight pieces, are spread apart at'their lower ends and are brought together at their upper ends. The hook at the upper end of the ladderis provided by bending the upper ends of the side pieces downward, as shown in Figs, 2 and 4, and their engaging ends arepointed and are bentslightly inward toward the main part of the ladder in order to get a firm grip upon a window ledge. To prevent the ladder from walking as it is rocked in mounting, the two ends are brought close enough together to provide substantially only one contact point. 7 Preferably the two ends are flattened on -i their inner faces and brought in actual contact, as shown, so that the sharpened ends merge into one contact point.

;To strengthen this hook-shaped end, a

suitable tie 2 is provided, which passes through the two ends of the side pieces near the Points t e o and i then Crossed oppo' ioo sitely over the outside of the ends and is then crossed again and its ends are attached to the opposite side pieces,-'with the result that each pointed end is tied to the opposite side piece and any strain on the hook is received by thetie and results in drawing the two pointed ends of the side pieces more tightly together.

To provide the pulley-mechanism supporting device as the ladder is'carried up to the desired floor, the lower ends of the side pieces" are bent upwardly and outwardly or reversely' to the hook-shaped bend of theupper ends. The pulley mechanism consists of a pulley 8 and a block 4 therefor, which is provided at its upper end with a rearwardly extending supporting hook 5, and is secured to a triangular frame 6, the base of which is long enough to rest upon the upwardly bent lower ends of" the side pieces. A hook 7 is carried by the hook 5 and is adapted to hook over a rung of the ladder, and is of such length that the base of the pulley mechanism rests upon the upwardly turned lower ends of the side pieces when the hook 7 is hooked over the second rung of the ladder, as shown in Fig. 5. In this position it is carried up with the ladder and can be quickly and easily detached when the objective floor is reached.

As a temporary supportfor the ladder at the different floors, each rescuer carries an extensible supporting member, shown in Fig. 3. This supporting member consists of two upright end members 8 and telescoping meeting members comprising two outer hollow rods 9 extending from one upright and two inner rods 10 extending from the other upright and arranged'to extend into the hollow rods 9. Set screws 11 in a clamp 12 are ,set up against the inner rods 10 to lock the parts in adjusted position. The end members 8 are preferably made of wood and the whole member is light, and each one of the operators is provided with one which he can easily carry with him.

The scaling ladder 1 is set up to a window of the first floor directly below that from which a rescue is to be made. The

two operators pass up this and one of them secures his supporting member across the window either behind the window guide strips 13, as shown in the middle window in Fig. 1 and in the upper window in Fig. 2, or the lower sash of the window may be raised, or, if that is impossible, the window pane may ,be broken and the supporting member maybe extended and arranged 7 across the inside of the window with the end uprights 8 behind the window frame on ber over a rung of the ladder and ties it temporarily around one of thecross-rods of the supporting member, as shown in the lower window in 2, or more usually he simply winds it around the cross-rod and holds it, thereby securing the ladder while such as the other operator mounts to the next window above, places'his supporting memberin that window, and temporarily ties the upper end of the ladder to one of the cross-rods of his supporting member by his securing member 14, as shown in the upper window of Fig. 2. The operator below then releases his securing member 14 and takes out the supporting member and carries the two members up the ladder, which is held against slipping off by the securing member at itsupper end. The ladder is then released at its upper end and is raised to the next floor, and is then temporarily secured at its lower end by one operator, as previously described, while the other operator mounts to the floor above and secures the upper end of the ladder, as previously described. Thus the rescuers mount quickly and safely from floor tofloor until the desired floor is reached. The pulley mechanism is then taken off the ladder and is preferably carried up to the upper end of the ladder to the floor above the one from which the rescue is to be made and is secured at that floor, as shown in Fig. 1, although, in case of great haste, it may be secured at the floor at which the rescue is to be made, as shown in Fig. 2, since this would save the time of mounting the ladder with the pulley mechanism to another floor. The pulley mechanism may be secured to one of the cross-rods of the supporting member, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or, if there be time, it may be secured to some substantial object in the room. The hook 5 is bent at substantially right angles to the plane of the frame 6, and will therefore rest on top of the ledge, as shown in Fig. 2. Any suitable securing means, as a flexible cord 15, may be used to tie the hook 7 to the object to which the pulley mechanism is secured.

A suitable carrier 16 is secured to one end of the rope 17, which passes over the pulley 3 and the other end ofwhich extends down to the ground. The carrier 16 is hooked on to a hook 18 attached to one end of the rope 17 and the other end of the hook 18 is bent to form a guide for the rope'so that the rope may pass through this and enable an operator on the ground to hold the carrier away from the building as the carrier descends. It willbe apparent that the movement of the carrier can be readily controlled from the ground after the pulley mechanism has been secured,,and that thereafter persons may be rapidly carried down with safety. The carrier may, if desired, be brought into the building through the win dow and an invalid be lifted into the carrier and be taken down in safety.

My complete apparatus may be extremely light and-at the same time sufiioiently strong and durable for all practical purposes. It

is compact and extremely convenient for carrying and very slmple to operate.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the construction shown and above particularly described within the principle and scope of my invention.

I claim 1. A scaling ladder having its side pieces bent downwardly at their upper ends to form a hook adapted to rest upon a window ledge, the ends of the two hook-shaped portions being sharpened and brought together to form substantially a single engaging point, and a tie member arranged to tie the respective ends to the opposite side pieces whereby strain upon the hook will tend to draw the pointed ends together.

2. A scaling ladder comprising side pieces spread apart at their lower ends and substantially uniformly approaching each other toward their upper ends and meeting at their upper ends and shaped to form a single engaging point at the upper end of the ladder, the upper ends of the side pieces being bent downwardly to provide a hookshaped portion adapted to rest with the single engaging point upon a window ledge,

3. A scaling ladder having the side pieces bent downwardly at their upper ends and inwardly toward the main part of the ladder, the ends being in close proximity tothe main part of the ladder, whereby the ends may rest upon a window ledge with the main part of the ladder in contact with the ledge, and a tie member arranged to tie the respective ends to the opposite side pieces.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN KONRATH. Witnesses:

VICTOR D. BORST, HARRY C. LEWIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. (3. 

